Animal activated feeder

ABSTRACT

An animal activated feeder (10) has a base (11) which supports a central cradle (17) for rotation about a central axis. A circular food bowl (40) having a number of receptacles (41) can be positioned on the cradle (17) to rotate with it, or lifted off for cleaning. The base (11) includes a central spring housing (13) having a flat helical torsion spring (14) (&#34;clock spring&#34;) which causes rotation of the cradle (17) and therefore the food bowl (40), but rotation is indexed in increments by a pet activated foot pedal (29) which is pivoted to the base and has a finger (28) lying in the path of travel of lugs (25) of a first group which project from the cradle (17). Indexing is limited to feed one receptacle (41) at a time, preventing spinning of the food bowl, by a second group of lugs (24) projecting from the cradle and when the foot pedal (29) is depressed, the finger ( 28) moves from the path of travel of the first group of lugs (25) and into the path of travel of the lugs (24) of the second group.

This invention relates to an animal activated feeder of the typegenerally described in our Australian Petty Patent No. 592292 entitled"IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO PET FEEDERS" for which application was made onJan. 11, 1989.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In that Petty Patent, there was described and illustrated an animalfeeder which comprised a food holder having a plurality of depressionslocated in spaced apart arrangement around a periphery of the holderproviding thereby a plurality of compartments for holding of food, covermeans to restrict access to all but one of the compartments by theanimal at any one time and trigger means including a trigger plateextending outwardly of the cover means and the holder accessible by ananimal whereby depression of the trigger plate effected a change ofaccess for the animal from the first of the compartments to the furtherof the compartments, by movement of the food holder relative to thecover. The energy required to effect movement of the food holder wassupplied by a flat helical spring ("clock spring") which was wound upevery time the food holder was replenished. The trigger means includedan escapement mechanism comprising a trigger plate extending radiallyfrom a body supporting the food holder and located adjacent theaccessible location through the cover, so that when an animal such as acat approached the food holder, by stepping on the trigger plate, thefood holder was caused to rotate through one of a plurality of indexedmovements. The trigger plate had an inwardly directed finger thereonwhich was releasably engaged by each of a plurality of circumferentiallyspaced radially projecting lugs, but upon depression for example by aoat, the finger was drawn outwardly to a position clear of the edge of alug to allow that lug to move forwardly for an index movement.

The arrangement described above functioned satisfactorily in manyrespects, but had some inherent problems which it is the object of thisinvention to overcome.

Firstly, with the arrangement the subject of the Petty Patent, it wasnecessary to remove the actuating spring along with the food bowl if thefood bowl was required to be cleaned by immersion in sudsy water, whichwould otherwise cause the spring to rust and possibly malfunction. It isnot always convenient to so remove the spring actuating mechanism, sincethe ends of the spring need to be reinserted in the respectivereceptacles. The main object of this invention therefore is to providean improvement whereby the spring actuating mechanism is retained to thebase of a feeder when the food bowl is removed.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An animal activated feeder has a base which supports a central cradlefor rotation about a central axis. A circular food bowl having a numberof receptacles can be positioned on the cradle to rotate with it, orlifted off for cleaning. The base includes a central spring housinghaving a flat helical torsion spring ("clock spring") which causesrotation of the cradle, and therefore the food bowl, but rotation isindexed in increments by a pet activated foot pedal which is pivoted tothe base and has a finger lying in the path of travel of lugs of a firstgroup which project from the cradle. Indexing is limited to feed onereceptacle at a time, preventing spinning of the food bowl, by a secondgroup of lugs projecting from the cradle and when the foot pedal isdepressed, the finger moves from the path of travel of the first groupof lugs and into the path of travel of the lugs of the second group.

While the actuating mechanism described and illustrated in the saidPetty Patent can be made to work satisfactorily, it was still prone tooccasional malfunction, and another object of the invention is toprovide simple design improvements wherein such malfunction is lesslikely to occur.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DRAWINGS

An embodiment of the invention is described hereunder in some detailwith reference to and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary top view of an animal activated feeder, partlycutaway to show the food bowl engaging the cradle,

FIG. 2 is an elevational section taken on line 2--2 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a top view of the cradle,

FIG. 4 is a section taken on line 4--4 of FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of FIG. 4,

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary section drawn to a larger scale than FIG. 2 andillustrating the manner in which the foot pedal can move the finger fromthe path of travel of a radially inner group of lugs to a radially outergroup of lugs on the cradle, and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary underside perspective view of FIG. 6 which showsthe scope of mechanism for the cradle in three dimensions. FIG. 7approximates a first angle projection of FIG. 6 except for theperspective component.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the drawings an animal activated feeder 10 comprises a base 11 whichis supported by rubber base feet 12, and has staked to it a springhousing 13 which thereby becomes portion of the base, the spring housing13 housing a flat helical torsion spring 14 the outer end of which iscoupled to the housing 13 by extending through a slot therein (notshown). The housing 13 is provided with a central bearing surface 15 inwhich is journalled a spigot 16 of a cradle 17, the lower end of thespigot 16 being bifurcated by a slot 18 which receives the inner end ofthe flat helical spring 14 so that the spring co-acts between the springhousing 13 (and thereby the base 11) on the one hand and the cradle 17.

As best seen in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, the cradle 17 comprises centraldiscoid portion 21 surrounded by a flange 22, the upper portion of theflange 22 having radially outwardly extending projections 23diametrically opposite each other, while the underneath portion cf theflange 22 has an outer group lugs 24, and these are spaced bothcircumferentially and radially away from another group of lugs 25. Thelugs are spaced equally around their respective pitch circles, and thereis sufficient difference in the diameters of those pitch circles that afinger 28 on an end of a foot pedal 29 can intercept the path of travelof the inner group of lugs 25, or alternately of the outer group of lugs24. While the relative positions are not critical, it will be seen thatthe lugs are spaced closely together in pairs so that if, for example, acat were to stand on the foot pedal 29, the cradle 21 would index byalmost one complete sequence, indexing then being stopped by the outerlugs 24 until the cat removed itself from the foot pedal whereupon thefinal stage of indexing would be achieved when the finger 28 would beabutted by a lug 25 of the same pair. The finger and the tip ends of thelugs 25 are chamfered at 30 in one direction only, and that is thedirection of winding up the spring 14 to strain it, the chamfer beingsufficient to deflect the finger 28.

The base 11 is provided with a depending boss 32 which loosely containsa hollow projection 33 of the foot pedal 29 to provide pivot meanstherefor, and assembly is maintained by a resilient foot member 34. Apair of leaf springs 35 extend between respective depending anchors 36which project downwardly from the base 11, and the foot pedal 29 toprovide a resilient return force to return the foot pedal to a positionwhere the portion which is activated by an animal is raised, andtherefore the finger 29 is lowered to encounter the lugs 25 of the innergroup. When however the animal applies pressure to the outwardlyprojection portion of the foot pedal 29, the finger 28 moves away fromthe path of travel of the inner group of lugs into the path of travel ofthe outer group of lugs as best seen in FIG. 6.

A food bowl 40 comprises a moulding which defines eightcircumferentially spaced food receptacles 41 all of which are upwardlyopen, and are so positioned with respect to the indexing lugs 25 as tobe successively indexed to a feeding station 42 adjacent the pedal 29.There is also provided a cover 43 which has a down-turned flange 44 andthe down-turned flange 44 is supported by a rib on an upturned flange 45of the base 11, the upturned flange 45 containing a slot 46 (FIG. 2)which accommodates a projecting web 47 on the cover 43, therebyretaining the cover in position with an opening 48 therein located abovethe receptacle 41 but only at the feed position, that is adjacent thefoot pedal 29.

Between the receptacles 41 of the food bowl 40, there are dividing walls50 and these define recesses which receive the projections 23 of thecradle, the arrangement being such that the food bowl 40 can be simplypositioned on the cradle 17 and be supported by the upper part of flange22, being retained against relative rotation by the projections 23, butfor cleaning purposes can be simply lifted off the cradle.

In use, the cover is simply lifted away from the food bowl and food isplaced in the various receptacles. The food bowl is rotated taking withit the cradle which strains the spring to provide the necessary motiveforce for return rotation, and when this occurs the chamfers on the lugs25 deflect the foot pedal 29 simplifying "winding up" of the spring. Thecover is then replaced and the animal will activate the foot pedal asrequired. It is surprisingly easy to train an animal in that function.Either the inner group of lugs 25 or the outer group of lugs 24 willarrest rotation of the feed bowl depending on whether the foot pedal 29is immediately released or is maintained depressed.

With this invention, cleaning of the food bowl is simplified merelylifting it away from the cradle, and the spring is housed in the springhousing 13 and protected against loss or damage by the walls of the baseand the spring housing. The arrangement of the lugs and the foot pedalas illustrated has been found to function with much reliability, andoccasional malfunction has been substantially avoided.

I claim:
 1. An animal activated feeder comprising a base, a cradlecentrally mounted on the base for relative rotation about a verticalaxis, a torsion imparting spring co-acting between the cradle and thebase urging said cradle rotation in a first direction, a group ofcircumferentially spaced indexing lugs projecting from the cradle,anactuating pedal projecting from the base and pivoted with respectthereto, return means urging the pedal to an elevated position, a fingeron the pedal engageable by respective said lugs successively when thepedal repeatedly moves to its elevated position to thereby inhibit saidrotation but being releasable from each lug in turn upon repeateddepression of the pedal to permit indexing of the cradle by saidrotation in a first direction, a food bowl carried by the cradle forrotation therewith but removable therefrom, the food bowl comprising aplurality of circumferentially spaced receptacles which are upwardlyopen, and so positioned with respect to the indexing lugs as to besuccessively indexed to a feeding station adjacent the pedal uponrepeated depression of the pedal, and a cover carried by the base havingan opening above the feeding station providing access to the food bowlreceptacle which, for the time being, is at the feeding station, butcovering all other said receptacles.
 2. An animal activated feederaccording to claim 1 wherein said base comprises a central springhousing which houses said torsion spring, said spring housing alsohaving a central bearing surface,said cradle having a depending spigotwhich rotationally engages said bearing surface for said relativerotation, the lower end of said spigot being bifurcated by an upwardlyextending slot, said torsion imparting spring being a flat helicalspring having an inner end contained in said slot and an outer endengaging the spring housing.
 3. An animal activated feeder according toclaim 2 wherein said spring housing comprises projections staked to saidbase.
 4. An animal activated feeder according to any one of claims 1 to3 wherein said food bowl comprises walls which separate said receptaclesand have surfaces which define recesses therebetween, and said cradlehas at least one projection which is contained between the recesssurfaces when the bowl is carried by the cradle and thereby inhibitsrelative rotation therebetween but does not inhibit removal of the bowlfrom the cradle in an axial direction.
 5. An animal activated feederaccording to claim 1 wherein said lugs extend downwardly from a surfaceof the cradle and are arranged on a relatively smaller pitch circleconcentric with said vertical axis, and further comprising a secondgroup of lugs also extending downwardly from said cradle surface andarranged on a relatively larger pitch circle,said finger lying in thepath of travel of the lugs of the first said group only when the pedalis in its elevated position and in the path of travel of the lugs of thesecond said group only when the pedal is depressed, so as to permit saidindexing by one receptacle only for each depression of the pedal.
 6. Ananimal activated feeder according to claim 5 wherein each of saidindexing lugs on the relatively smaller pitch circle comprises a surfacewith sufficient chamfer to deflect said finger upon rotation of thecradle in a second direction, thereby enabling said spring to bestrained.
 7. An animal activated feeder according to claim 1 whereinsaid pedal is pivoted by means of a pivotal mount depending from asurface of the base, an aperture intermediate the ends of the pedaldefined by surfaces which loosely engage the pivotal mount, and aresilient member retaining the pedal to the pivotal mount.
 8. An animalactivated feeder according to claim 7 wherein said return means compriseresilient leaf springs co-acting between the pedal and the base.
 9. Ananimal activated feeder according to claim 1 wherein the base comprisesan upturned peripheral flange and the cover a down-turned peripheralflange carried thereby, and further comprising a locating projection onone of those said flanges engaging surfaces of a notch in the other ofthose said flanges.